- Court grants defendants bail
- Adjourns case to June 18th, 19th for trial
BY ONYEKACHUKWU IBEZIM – Former Governor of Abia State, Theodore Orji, and four others, have been arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the Abia State High Court for allegedly misappropriating about ₦47 billion.
The defendants were arraigned before the State Chief Judge, Justice Lilian Abai, who granted them bail before adjourning the case to 18th and 19th June 2025 for trial.
Apart from former Governor Orji, who is accused of misappropriating the amount while presiding over the affairs of Abia State for eight years, other defendants are his son, Engineer Chinedum Orji; a former Abia State Commissioner of Finance, Dr Philip Nto; a government contractor Obioma King; and a former Director of Finance in Abia State, Romas Madu.
They were all arraigned before the Chief Judge on a 16-count charge bordering on conspiracy to steal and convert billions of Naira meant for various government programmes across the State.
Specifically, the anti-graft agency is accusing them of Misappropriating N22.5 billion allocated for security votes from 2011 to 2015; Stealing ₦13 billion from a loan facility granted by Diamond Bank; and Illegal conversion of N12 billion from the Paris Club refund.
Also, the EFFC accused them of converting for personal use the sum of ₦10.5 billion from a loan granted by First Bank, meant for the Abia State government and its local councils, along with ₦2 billion from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) funds designated for small and medium enterprises.
The Lead Prosecutor, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), had at the start of the proceedings, requested that the Court registrar reads the charges to the defendants to allow them enter their pleas.
He stressed the importance of ensuring the defendants fully understood the charges filed against them by the anti-corruption agency.
With all five defendants pleading not guilty to the charges, the defence team, including Bode Olanipekun (SAN), representing the first defendant; Chikaosolu Ojukwu, (SAN), representing the second defendant; Okey Amechi (SAN); and Isaac Anya all filed bail applications on behalf of their clients.
The Prosecuting Counsel, Pinheiro raised no objections to the bail requests but urged the Court to exercise its discretion in determining the bail conditions.
